Gut Reaction
Week 1: 10×800 workout with 400m recovery jog, warm up and cool down. 9 miles.
Lunch: Peanutbutter and banana sandwich and carrots
Last snack: Luna bar at 4:30
Week 2: Fartleks. 7.5 miles with warm up and cool down.
Lunch: Leftover tofu stir fry
Last snack: Odwalla bar at 4:00pm
On the surface these 2 workouts and diets appear somewhat similar. What was different was the impact on my stomach afterwards.
Last week, following the 800s workout, I came home and tried to eat. Recognizing the total failure of this attempt, I climbed into bed, unshowered, curled into a ball and prayed I would fall asleep before the awfulness in my stomach made me feel any worse. No such luck. Add a few more sprints to the bathroom that night to my speed work for that day.
Fast forward to tonight. Reasonably difficult workout and a somewhat “less-safe” lunch. I won’t lie, I was a bit nervous how my stomach would fare on my run tonight. Unnecessarily, apparently. I came home and scarfed down some left over baked ziti. I don’t get it.
Similarly, I’ve had races where I ran hard and then enjoyed a few beers immediately after. And then there was the 2010 BAA Half. I had to have a friend drive me home AND we pulled over on the side of Soldier’s Field Road so I could puke. I couldn’t even keep water down.
I don’t get it, as there really is no predictability to the gut reaction I have following races or training runs. Yes, usually it happens when I run harder. I try to run on a somewhat empty stomach but 2+ hours to digest a granola bar should be sufficient. I’ve eliminated certain foods from my pre-race or run meals, some obvious (burritos) and some a result or trial and error (I still blame the salmon I had for dinner the night before for the BAA Half incident). But who would have thought green beans, squash and tofu today would be a winner?!
I’m sure again at some point, I will have another sensitive stomach experience. For now, I’ll continue to try to eat those foods that have been consistently tummy-friendly before races and harder workouts. And I’ll be thankful my belly waits until after the run to let me know if it disagreed with my choices.
